Never Judge a Marauder by His Cover
by Sapphire531
Summary: Lily and James's sixth year's about to start. She thinks he's an aroogant toerag. He thinks she's lovely. James Potter has liked Lily Evans ever since he can remember. It's his second last year at Hogwarts and he hasn't given up on Evans..yet. Lily Evans has finally recovered from the pain of losing her best friend. She's determined not to get involved in too much drama.
1. The Leaky Cauldron

**A/n : Hi everyone! I'm sapphire531(as is apparent by my username, but pleasantries.)**

 **I absolutely love Harry Potter, and James and Lily are my OTP. I hope you enjoy my attempt at this fanfiction.**

 **Thank you xx**

 **Reviews are cookies :D**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters. All rights belong to J K Rowling**.

Lily Elizabeth Evans (POV)

"I don't need help from a filthy little Mudblood like her!" He had screamed.

"Fine" she had said coolly. "I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."

10th August, 1967.

10:00AM

Summer after Fifth Year.

Lily Elizabeth Evans was finally able to smile and laugh again.

After what had happened at the end of fifth year, she had been heart broken. Sev..Sev had been her best friend. His loss was extremely painful, but he'd chosen his path and Lily had chosen hers.

The summer before sixth year had been uneventful. She'd got her OWL results (12 OWLS ..not surprising. ) She'd done all her homework , suggested reading and extra reading. Lily had also eaten lots of chocolate and had refused to go out with Mare, Daph and Jon (her best mates) for most of the summer. Preferring to stay home and wallow.

No more. She thought.

"Alright, Lily. No more wallowing. No more excessive chocolate eating. No more moping. " She said loudly to herself. Enough was enough.

She took out a fresh piece of parchment from her desk drawer , took a quill and wrote to her best friend, Daphne Abott.

 **Dear Daph,**

 **How are you? I know I haven't replied to any of your letters. I know we haven't talked a lot this summer and I'm sorry.**

 **I've just about had enough wallowing and moping now.**

 **I've decided to go back to being the little ray of sunshine that I usually am...do I detect a laugh Daph?**

 **Again, I'm really truly very sorry. As a way of expressing my apology, I'll go with you to Eric Greengrass's end of summer bash.**

 **I know you've fancied Eric since forever, and that you've always wanted to go but I've always refused, little git that I am.**

 **Anyway, I'm sorry again. If you do decide to forgive me and attend that stupid bash with me, write back?**

 **Also, I have absolutely nothing to wear. Do you fancy a trip to Diagon Alley ?**

 **How about the 20th of August? For the shopping trip?**

 **P.s. Daphy I'm sorry.**

 **P.p.s Forgive me?**

 **Always ,**

 **L.E.**

Lily folded the parchment, put it in an envelope and sealed it. She beckoned to her owl, Artemis.

"Arty, come on here. I finally have something for you to deliver."

Artemis, sweet owl that she was, obediently came to Lily and stretched out her leg. Lily tied the letter securely in place.

" Deliver this as fast as possible. Alright Arty?" She addressed her owl.

Artemis hooted her agreement and took off out the window.

With nothing better to do, Lily took out her copy of Pride and Prejudice and slowly lost herself in thoughts of the delectable Mr. Darcy.

11th August ,1967

Artemis came swooping through the window and hooted loudly.

Lily rushed to the window, gave a quick pat to Artemis and tore open the letter.

 **Dearest Daft Cow,**

 **You're a git you know that? I sent you TEN letters. TEN. Not even one measly reply in return!**

 **You're a right manipulative tosser, you know that? Eric's summer bash? You knew I wouldn't refuse.**

 **Alright, Evans , I forgive you. Only because I love you very deeply (well..the party is a major reason, but potato -potato)**

 **We'll go to Diagon Alley on 20th at noon? Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron?**

 **Also, Jon and Mare will also attend the party along with the Marauderers ofcourse(that means James Potter). I hope you don't mind, well even if you do, it hardly matters. Ha.**

 **All my love,**

 **D.A.**

Lily laughed. She really did miss Daphne.

She was looking quite forward to the party until she read that Potter would be going too. Oh well, how bad could it possible be ? Lily thought to herself.

Little did she know, it could be pretty, pretty bad.

20th August , 1967.

Lily woke up early, extremely excited to meet Daphne. She quickly went to the bathroom and completed her daily bath routine.

Lily opened her dresser and surveyed her options. She could wear a nice red robe...no too loud. She thought. How about the dark blue ones? Yes..the dark blue ones looked nice on her.

Lily quickly donned her dark blue robes and put on some eyeliner and mascara. Grabbing her purse she checked the time (11:00am) as she exited her room.

"Mum I'm going to Diagon Alley with Daphne! " She called out to her mother, Rose, as she quickly stuffed some pancakes into her mouth.

"Alright, dear, come back before 9!" Her mother replied.

Lily picked up a light shrug to cover the top of her robe, so it looked like she was wearing a dress. Necessary muggles precautions!

With a quick kiss on her mother's cheek, Lily exited the house.

Since she lived in London, near the Leaky Cauldron, she could easily walk there in about fifteen minutes.

As she entered the Leaky Cauldron, Lily immediately spotted the wavy black hair that belonged to her best mate, Daphne Abott.

"Daph!" Lily called out to her. Daphne was sitting at the bar.

"Lily! Right on time! It's been ages since I saw you , you prat!" Daphne squealed and hugged Lily.

Daphne Abott has been Lily's best mate since first year(along with Severus). Daphne was as tall as Lily, about 5'7 feet in height, had black wavy hair and brilliant blue eyes with a spotless complexion. Daphne was surely the envy of every girl at Hogwarts.

Lily laughed, " I've missed you too, Daph."

"You disappeared Lily Elizabeth Evans. I'm still somewhat cross with you about that." Daph replied.

"Daphy, I'm sorry..it was very hard for me. What Sev did...Never mind that, how has your summer been?" Lily said , hastily changing the topic. Severus was still a sore spot for her.

"OK I suppose. I played a lot of Quidditch with my brothers and sister. Oh on that note, how's Petunia?" Daphne asked with a grimace. She knew how horrid Petunia, Lilly's elder non magic sister, was sometimes.

"Fine, actually. She has this new bloke , Vernon. So she paid very little attention to me this summer." Lily replied.

"Oh? How's this bloke Vernon ?" Daphne asked curiously.

"A bloated baby elephant." Lily said with a grin. Daphne laughed.

Lily ordered two butter beers for them.

They chatted about everything, from school to the matter of 'Death Eaters'- a fastidious group of wizards and witches who followed orders from the 'Dark Lord' and believed in blood purity, that is, pure magic blood without any muggle blood in it.

"I hate this whole 'blood purity ' propaganda. It's rubbish, really " Daphne said vehemently. Even though she was pure blood ( the Abott's were even included in the 'Sacred 28' list. A list that compromised of the purest pure blood families.) Daphne, like her family, did not discriminate on the basis of blood purity.

"That's true..I feel like this is just their excuse to snatch power." Lily replied, sighing sadly.

Lily and Daphne had just finished drinking their butter beers and were about to leave when,

"Evans! Abott!" She heard a very familiar voice yell. They both stopped.

"Please don't tell me it's who I think it is!" She said to Daphne. Hoping and wishing it wasn't him.

Daphne grinned. " It is who you think it is. Dearest James, ofcourse." Daphne finished and waved to James Potter and Sirius Black. Why did Daphne have to be a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team? She thought.

Lily groaned. What a perfectly horrid way to spoil a great day. She turned around and looked at the guilty party. Potter and Black were standing at the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron.

Potter was wearing black robes that fit him very well, Lily had to admit. His jet black hair was sexily messed, like always and he was smiling his most mischievous smile. (the smile that half the population at Hogwarts died for, present company excluded.) James Potter was very tall. Easily over 6 feet, and had a very athletic build (owing to his rigourous Quidditch playing).

"Lily, you're staring." Daphne whispered with a smile on her face. Startled, Lily scowled. "Bloody Potter. He won't even let me die in peace, I'm sure."

Potter and Black made their way to where Lily and Daphne were sitting.

"Greetings, Evans. Abott." Potter said with a smile on his face as he sat down next to Lily.

Sirius Black just nodded at them and sat down.

"How's everything been going , Evans?" Black asked her.

"Alright, I suppose. How were your OWL results?" Lily asked Black.

"Pretty good. I got 10 OWLS." He said, grinning.

"What about you, James?" Daphne asked Potter.

"They were fine. Eleven OWLS." Pottrr replied, without even a hint of smugness in his voice.

Lily was extremely surprised. She'd expected Potter to boast about his excellent marks, as he usually did, but surprisingly he..didn't.

"What about you, Evans?" Potter asked her .

Lily hadn't been paying attention to what was being said, mulling over this apparently different Potter.

Startled she said, "I..uh..what did you ask, again?"

"Woolgathering, are you?" Potter said, grinning.

Lily blushed. "Don't be a git Potter. What did you ask?"

"Your OWL results. And I wasn't being a git." He said, genuinely puzzled. "Was I being a git, Padfoot?" He asked Black.

"No, I don't reckon you were, Prongs. Maybe you should ask Abott?" Black said, rubbing one finger over his chin. Acting as if he was deep in thought.

"No, James. You weren't being a git at all." Daphne replied with a very sombre expression. The prat.

"You see, Evans? It has been sufficiently established that I was not being a git." Potter finished with a grin.

"Oh, alright fine! I'm sorry! You are not a git, Potter and I got 12 OWLS." Lily said in an irritated tone. James Potter was going to be the death of her, she thought.

"12?! Fuck, Evans! That's so good!" Potter said, sounding genuinely impressed. Lily looked up at him. His mouth was twisted in a brilliant smile, his hazel eyes were shining.

"Thank you." She said, and blushed.

"Our Lily is going to do great things." Black said, grinning.

"Lily is the resident genius after all." Daphne finished with a proud smile. Lily was completely red now.

"Daph, it's 3pm already. I told Mum I'd be back by 9. We haven't even started shopping for tomorrow !" Lily told her best mate after she'd checked her watch.

"Tomorrow? Something special, Evans?" Potter asked her, looking at her with extreme curiosity.

"No, nothing re-" Lily started before Daphne, very rudely, cut her off.

"We're going to Greengrass's party!" She said , positively glowing.

"Is that right? So are Prongs and I!" Black exclaimed.

"Well then , see you both there, Lily and I really should get to shopping, now!" Daphne said.

"Nice running into you, Evans." Potter said looking into her eyes, smiling.

"Mhmm. You too Potter, Black." She replied , a small smile forming on her face as she looked back into his hazel ones.

Maybe..just maybe..James Potter wasn't all that bad. Lily thought, smiling.


	2. Party or no?

**A/n: hi fellow humans! Chapter number two is a little short, but I want number three from James' point of view (yay). Also, I got two reviews! Thank you jily and someone! The more reviews I get the faster I'll post here(motivation). Thanks a lot for all the support!**

 **xxx**

 **-Sapphire**.

 _Recap:Lily finally gets over losing her best friend, Severus Snape. She meets up with her best friend and fellow Gryffindor, Daphne Abott in the Leaky Cauldron. They run into James Potter and Sirius Black. James seems different to Lily , but she's not ready to believe it just yet. Lily and Daphne are going to Eric Greengrass's end of summer party._

Lily Elizabeth Evans

8:00AM

It was a beautiful, sunny morning, Lily noticed as she yawned and got up from her bed.

 _It had been five days since that weird encounter with Potter. He had been so unlike his usual self. None of the normal boasting or 'go out with me , Evans' after every sentence. Had he...changed?_ Lily wondered as she went in the bathroom for a shower.

When she came out of the bathroom, wearing her bathrobe, she noticed a tawny owl on her windowsill. Lily approached the owl and untied the piece of parchment tied to its talon.

 **Dearest Lily,**

 **As you may have noticed , I'm not calling you a 'Daft Cow' anymore. However, I would like to point out, that it doesn't necessarily mean you aren't one. Daft Cow, that is.**

 **Today is the 25th of August , the day of Eric Greengrass's end of summer party.**

 **As you may recall, you _promised_ that you'd attend it with me. **

**The party starts at 6:00PM. I'll come to your home at 6:30PM to pick you up. Fashionable witches are always late after all.**

 **P.s. wear the black dress we bought together.**

 **Love,**

 **D.A.**

 _'Daft Cow'?_ Lily thought as she laughed. Lily Evans was not a 'Daft Cow'.

She kept the letter from Daphne aside and wore a comfortable worn in T Shirt and a loose knee length skirt.

Lily went downstairs for some breakfast.

"Esmeralda, can I have some waffles today please?" She asked her faithful cook.

"Ofcourse, Miss Evans. It'll only be five minutes or so." Esmeralda replied.

Lily sighed and made her way to the dining room. As she walked towards the dining room, Lily noticed that someone was in the salon.

Curious to see who it was, Lily crept towards the salon and hid behind the door.

"Mother, I'd like you to meet Vernon." Lily heard her sister Petunia say.

"Oh, Vernon, lovely to meet you!" Her mother exclaimed.

Lily had , on previous occasions, had the displeasure of meeting Vernon, her sister's boyfriend.

"Morning, Rose." Lily heard Vernon say to her mother.

"Vernon would you like to have some tea?" Her mother asked.

"Yes , ofcourse." He replied.

"Petunia, go and fetch Lily. I'm sure Vernon would love to meet your sister!" Lily heard her mother exclaim.

She quickly crept up away from the salon and into the dining room. The last thing Lily wanted was to be busted by her sister for eavesdropping on her and 'darling Vernon'.

Lily sat down on a chair in the dining room, and started eating the waffles Esmeralda had made for her and put on the table.

She heard Petunia enter the dining room.

"Freak. Mum wants _you_ to meet Vernon. I don't. Go to your room and pretend you're sick. I don't want my darling to meet with someone like... _you again."_ Petunia finished in a scathing tone.

Lily and Petunia, had been extremely close to each other when they were children. But, when Lily has discovered she was magical and had got her letter of acceptance from Hogwarts, Petunia had been extremely jealous. Petunia too had wanted to go to Hogwarts, but she was a muggle, she didn't have any magic capabilities.

So, since then, Petunia had despised Lily and called her a freak.

"That's fine by me, Tuney. I'll go to my room. Don't you worry." Lily replied. The way Petunia, her own sister, treated her made her feel horrible.

She got up and left the room, without a glance towards the sister who hated her so much.

6:00PM, the same day.

Lily had had a fairly constructive day. She'd completed Transfiguration notes for the first chapter already (taking help from a Standard Book of Spells Grade 6 and various Transfiguration guides.)

She'd finished Pride and Prejudice and had done a little bit of reading on brewing the Draught of Living Death.

She'd also not cried a bit on Petunia's horrible remarks.

Lily checked the time. It was 6:10 PM. _Bloody hell!_ She thought. _Daphne was going to come in 20 minutes_.

Lily quickly took out the black dress she'd bought with Daphne from her dresser and put it on.

She then quickly put on some eyeliner, mascara and a little bit of lipstick. Taking a hair brush , she quickly brushed her long red hair and left it open. Lily then put on her favourite red pumps.

Lily was just putting on perfume when she heard the doorbell ring. She rushed downstairs and opened the door.

Daphne was standing on her front porch looking like a goddess. She was wearing a knee-length, strapless scatlet dress with black heels. Her black wavy hair was up in a messy, sexy high ponytail.

"Daphne you look so good!" Lily exclaimed, smiling at her friend.

"Lily, have you seen yourself?" Daphne replied with a grin. "All the blokes are going to loose their heads when they see you. Especially James."

Lily laughed and shook her head. _Daphne and her hyperboles_. She thought.

.

 **a/n: Well.. I hope you all like it! Please please review! Next chapter will be from James' point of view and it'll be very...interesting. I'll try to post it by tomorrow, otherwise sometime next week, promise!**

 **Thank you all for reading this!**

 **Please please REVIEW!**

 **Love**

 **Sapphire.**


	3. Almost

**A/n: another chapter! Yay! Sorry for the late post, but I had writer's block. This one is from James' POV and I hope you like it guys! Please please REVIEW! Constructive criticism is appreciated ! Also, I don't have a beta so I might have some grammatical or spelling errors, which I'm really sorry for , in advance. REVIEW please!**

 **Xxx**

 **-sapphire**

James F. Potter (POV)

25 July 1967

8:00PM

 _She was going to be there_ , James thought. His heartbeat quickened.

"Oi Padfoot! It's already 8! We should probably leave for the GreenGrass's party now!" He yelled to Sirius Black, James's best friend and fellow marauder. "Alright mate." Sirius replied. They both walked towards the huge fireplace in the hall of the Potter Manor.

James stepped into the fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder, threw it and said,"GreenGrass's Manor!"

He felt the tickling burning sensation he associated with flooing and stepped out of a fireplace in the GreenGrass's Manor. He waited for his Sirius for a few minutes whilst he brushed the soot off of himself. Sirius stepped out of the fireplace James had earlier and coughed. "Can't wait for apparation lessons. I hate flooing." He grumbled.

James and Sirius walked towards the party hall. James could hear the loud music, the shrieks and screams and occasional giggles that usually accompanied a party with liquor involved.

"Padfoot, d'you reckon Moony and Wormtail will come?" He asked Sirius.

The Marauders were a close knit gang of the most brilliant pranksters. They all even had special nicknames for each other, Moony for Remus Lupin, Padfoot for Sirius Black, Prongs for James Potter and Wormtail for Peter Pettigrew.

"Nah I don't reckon they will. Moony doesn't really like these sort of things y'know.. and Wormtail would be scared by the number of birds here." Sirius replied with a grin on his face. He pushed his shoulder length, curly hair backwards.

"Potter! Black!" James heard Eric Greengrass yell as he approached Sirius and him.

Eric Greengrass was in the same year as Sirius and him, but in Ravenclaw House.

James liked Greengrass , he was a decent bloke and was on good terms with him.

"Great party as usual, Greengrass!" Sirius told Eric, who grinned at the praise.

"Come inside with me you two. We even arranged firewhisky this year!" Eric and led them inside.

It was extremely crowded. James could hear the Dragons' music blare through the room. Everyone was dancing, screaming and partying as if they didn't have a care in the world. _Which was ironic really, given the rising of a certain dark wizard by the name of Lord Voldemort_ , he thought wryly.

James scanned the crowd, his eyes darting from person to person in search of a certain redhead.

"Oi Prongs, I'm er- off with that bird Sierra. See you later mate!" Sirius said. Sierra was this hot bird in sixth year who Sirius had been shagging for the past two months.

James made his way into the crowd. He was now sure Evans hadn't come. She never really did come to these things.

"Oi J-james! Hullo!" He heard a familiar voice say. He turned around to find himself facing Daphne Abott.

"Daph! So good to see you again!" James exclaimed _. If Daphne was here..maybe just maybe Evans could be too ,_ he though wistfully.

"Isn't this party f-fantastic?!" She fairly yelled out. He could smell the firewhisky on her.

"Abott you reek of firewhisky. How much have you had ?" James asked her.

"O..one or t-two? Daphne replied with a lopsided grin.

"Bottles or glasses?" He went on.

"Had to..f-for courage. Eric is here isn't he? Th-his is my moment." She said and giggled. He instantly knew something was wrong. Daphne Abott did not giggle.

"Daph you should sit down. Did you come here with someone?" He asked whilst putting his arm around her and guiding her to a sofa kept in the corner.

"Y-yes. Flower power was with me. W-we both had a drinkin' comp-petion. D'you want me to call her? FLOOWEEER." Daphne yelled out before collapsing on the sofa and sighing.

James now knew Evans was here and from what he'd heard, she wasn't in a much better state than Daphne. He was worried about Evans. _What if someone took advantage of her_ ? James thought worriedly. He looked at Daphne how was twirling a strand of her hair in her hands and sighing,"Eric. Oh Eric."

James wanted to go and look for Evans but he couldn't very well leave Daphne here.

"Daph, we need to get you home. C'mon get up, we'll floo to your house." James said to her.

"Jamieeeeee I don't wa-ant to go." She whined.

James sighed. "C'mon Daph, please." He pleaded and was trying to get her up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. James turned around, a white blonde, tall boy was standing behind him.

"It's alright Potter. I'll take Daph home." Jon Selwyn said with a friendly smile on his face. Jon, Daphne and Lily were best friends. Jon was a decent bloke but James had never really liked him due to his close relationship with Evans.

James nodded and gestured towards Daphne."Take care of her." He told Jon who nodded.

James left the saloon area and walked back into the dance hall. He went to the bar, hoping to find Evans somewhere. At Hogwarts, James could spot her brilliant red hair instantly , but today he just couldn't seem to find her.

James went to the bar situated in the corner of the dance hall and sat down on a stool in front of it. He ordered a firewhisky for himself.

After a few minutes the witch at the bar handed him his firewhisky. James drained the glass almost instantaneously. He was getting more and more worried. Evans was plastered and he couldnt spot her. _What had happened to her? People could get extremely wild at parties_.

James' head was in his hands as he asked for another firewhisky. He had never been this worried in his entire life.

He was so eaten up with worry that he didn't bother to look at the person sliding onto the stool next to him.

James ran a hand through his hair. He was getting more and more worried by the second. He looked up and was about to request for another glass of firewhisky when he noticed that a very drowsy Lily Evans was sitting beside him on the stool.

At first, James nearly cried with relief. That feeling lasted for about ten seconds, and was replaced by intense anger.

"Evans! Where the fuck have you been this entire time?" James asked angrily.

"What d-do you mean Potter? I've b-been here this entire time." She replied hiccuping. As James' anger faded slightly, he noticed her appearance. Evans was wearing a form fitting black dress that came up to her thighs, leaving her delicious long legs bare. The dress hugged her figure extremely well, making his thoughts run wild. Her red hair was tied back in a sexy high ponytail and she'd highlighted her eyes with black shadow. _Fucking hell,_ he thought, _she looks beautiful_.

"W-why are you staring at me Potter?" Evans asked him, her eyes narrowing. Just his bloody luck, she wasn't drunk enough to forget she hated him.

"You still haven't answered my question. Where were you,Evans?"James questioned.

"Daph and I h-had a drinkin' co-contest and then I met Jon and I danced with him and o-h I had more firewhi-whisky. It's delicious. Ex-xcuse me? Can I have s'more please?" She asked the witch. Who nodded and poured her a glass. Evans drank the firewhisky faster than he would've though possible.

"You sure about that?" James asked dryly.

"This is t-the most bril stuff. I kn-now why you break rules for th-his!" She exclaimed and requested the witch for another glass.

"Woah, slow down, Evans. That's a lot of firewhisky for one evening. Don't you think?" James said.

"I'm havin' f-fun after so l-long." She replied and drained another glass. She looked James straight in the eye and said, "You l-look nice today Pot-potter."

James nearly dropped the glass of firewhisky he was holding. What the fuck just hapoened? He thought.

"Black su-suits you." She went on , then started giggling.

James had never seen a more beautiful scene in his life. "Why are you giggling?" He asked, too shocked to make his usual innuendos.

"Black su-suits y-you. BLACK." Then she laughed again.

James grinned, drunk Evans was extremely adorable.

"P-potter d'you wan' to maybe g-go outside to the balcony?" She asked. "I ca-can't breathe here."

"Thought you'd never ask, Evans." He replied, flashing a jaunty grin. He got up from the stool and held his hand out. She looked up at him, James could see a brief hesitation on face before she took his offered hand and he helped her get up.

They walked towards the balcony together. Both of them stealing glances at each other and then quickly looking away.

They finally reached the balcony, and went and sat on a bench at the corner.

Evans breathed in the air and sighed.

"I n-never really have much fun , y'know? This is the f-first time I-I've drunk firewhi-whisky." She said staring off into the dark.

"Well, why not? I know you always get invitations, many of them being mine." He replied smiling, his eyes fixed on her lovely face.

She continued staring off into the distance and replied, " I...I j-just feel I ha-have to prove myself because I'm m-muggle born."

James felt a surge of anger on her behalf. He hated this bigotry in the magic community.

"Evans, you're the smartest bird I know. One of the best students in our form. Every teacher loves you, you receive the highest marks and you will probably be head girl." He said with extreme gravity. He didn't want her to feel inadequate.

She laughed,"W-who are you a-and what have y-you done wi'h James Po-tter?" She said, her eyes still fixed on the horizon.

James studied her face. He could see tears glistening in her eyes.

"Nothing. He's just matured up." James replied.

There was a brief pause, both of them were silently ruminating what the other had said.

Evans sighed,"So-sometimes..I don' want to gr-grow up. L-leave Hogwarts, f-face the horrible world."

"You're Lily Evans. If someone can bust the Marauders as many times as you have, I reckon they'll be just fine." James replied grinning. He really wanted to see her smile.

Lily turned her head and looked into his eyes. Her green eyes were shining with emotion. She smiled and whispered, "James."

That was the first the she's ever said his name. James felt a rush of pleasure at her saying his name instead of the usual 'Potter'.

James and Lily's gazes were locked and suddenly, he wasn't aware of anything around him. He wanted nothing more than to press his lips to her and kiss her warm, lush mouth.

James and Lily inched towards each other. His hand crept up to the nape of her neck and the other to her waist. He rubbed his thumb across her nape and she shivered.

In that moment, James knew that he had to kiss her. He leaned in closer, their noses were touching and their foreheads were pressed together. Her cool breath fanned his lips, sending a surge of wanting through him. He was about to press his lips to hers when he stopped himself. It was the hardest thing he'd done in his life. S _he's drunk, you can't take advantage of her like this,he_ thought.

James sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes tightly. He didn't want her to regret this, to blame this on the whisky. When they kissed, she'd want it more than anything else.

He removed his hands from her person and took one last glance at her beautiful profile.

Her face had a quizzical expression on it, wondering why he hadn't kissed her, disappointed even.

James wasn't sure how long he'd be able to control himself looking at her in that black dress.

"You should go home, Evans. It's getting late." He said to her in a curt tone.

Her face briefly shone with disappointment before she replied back,"Y-you're right. Goodnight Potter."

She got up and left the balcony.

Watching her walk away pained him like nothing else ever had.


End file.
